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Awakened Undead
Death comes for all things in a near infinite variety of ways. So, too, are there many reasons that the dead might return from the grave. Directly applied necromancy, cursed lands, and unfinished business are but a few, and all leave the newly undead soul with a mere semblance of the life it had before. All undead carry the physical or emotional scars of what ended their mortal lives, though some may be far more subtle than others. Dead and Reborn Typically having no lands to call their own, undead with an awakened sense of self are typically perpetual foreigners, wanders in a land and often a time not their own. Compounding matters, most mortal cultures carry within them an instinctual fear of death and the dead, and many associate necromancy specifically with dark tidings. This forms a wall of (often well earned) prejudice and hatred that sentient undead find themselves up against, and many undead choose to hide their necrotic natures behind clothes, masks, and pungent perfumes when journeying into civilization. Depending on composition, humanoid undead typically range a wide gamut from 20 to 300 pounds, and may possess empty eyes, a colored flame-like magical animus in their sockets, or harrowed, surprisingly mortal eyes burning with an inner fire. Hair (if they have it at all) is usually lank, dark, and wrought with grime and grave dirt that amount of cleansing will fully remove. Service and Freedom Undeath is effectively immortality, a strong reason why many mortal spellcasters of a certain moral bent consider it a viable alternative to actually dying. Still, it is not immortality without price - senses and emotions full, food and drink no longer have taste, and often an undead state comes alongside a subservience of will and unthinking service to a master who likely does not have the world's best intentions at heart. Some undead are born into freedom, while others earn it or have it thrust upon them. Regardless, all undead that have freedom greatly cherish it, as the reminders of what could easily happen were they not fortunate enough to possess free will abound throughout history. Many consider it their sacred duty to free other mindless undead, or simply to dispatch them wherever they may be found. The reasoning is straightforward enough: a final rest awarded to all mortals is greatly preferential to eternal slavery to the likes of a short-sighted, megalomaniacal wizard. Fallen Home, Forgotten Past For many awakened undead, the past is a distant homeland to which they may never return, holding names and faces now partially forgotten, and loves and lives as dead as they are. The anguish of this loss is enough to drive many mad, but others use this rage and pain as a source of power and drive, carrying them further on the road to whatever dark destiny awaits. Frequently, entire countries, customs, and cultures the undead may be familiar with no longer exist, and the sentient dead behaves or speaks in an antiquated fashion because of this. It may be even more difficult than usual for such undead to relate to more modern mortals, and typically these undead leverage what companions they may have to bridge this epoch-long communication gap. Undead Names Many undead that awaken into sentience prefer to keep the names they held in their mortal lives. For For others, however, their mortal names are forgotten or have lost meaning. These undead often adopt nicknames given to them by their former masters or present companions, and hold them to be as true as any other creature's birth name. Examples of names given in this fashion may be seen, below: Names: Rattlebones, Spore, Rotface, Raven, Bane, Carver, Drudge, Rook, Mort, Pale, Minion, Crumble, Shade Awakened Undead Traits Dead Immortality. You do not age. Given time, the necromantic energies that sustain you will heal most wounds you take at approximately the same rate as a mortal, and your hit dice function as normal. Past Life. Choose another living race besides this one. Before your death, you were a member of this race and appear as an undead version of it. Your size, height, and movement speed are the same as a typical member of that race. You do not retain special movement speeds from this race (such as swimming or flying), and, though you may choose to have formerly been a member of a subrace of a particular race, you derive no benefits from doing so. Undead. Raised from the dead as a being of undeath, you count as an undead creature for all spells and abilities that affect undead. You are immune to disease and treat exhaustion as if it was one level less. You do not need to eat or breathe, but you can ingest food and drink if you wish. Instead of sleeping, you enter an inactive state for 4 hours each day. You do not dream in this state; you are fully aware of your surroundings and notice approaching enemies and other events as normal. Darkvision. Through the necromantic energy animating you, you are able to perceive with greater clarity that which lurks in the darkness.You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray. Languages. You can speak, read, and write any language available to the race you chose for your Past Life. Subrace. Five types of awakened undead are available to you. Choose Ghoul, Mummy, Revenant, Skeleton, or Tortured Soul. Ghoul Ghouls are undead borne to unlife through envy and greed, and they are consumed with desire for all the things they never have attained in life, usually wealth. While most ghouls lack the ambition to rise above mere graverobbing and feasting upon the recently deceased (or even the occasional gravedigger), some recall their unmet ambitions in more detail, and become obsessed with them. Ghouls that maintain their unlife long enough can become ghasts, re-growing much of their lost skin, rotted-out organs, and regaining much of their former appearance, although their hollow eyes, monstrous teeth, long tongues and fearsome nails will eventually give them away. Ghasts also gain the ability to emit a foul stench, and to rally other undead in the face of clerics and paladins. Ghouls enjoy the taste of rotting flesh and will horde pieces of individuals they found to be particularly tasty, savoring them as they rot, as if they were so much fine cheese. Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity increases by 2, and your Wisdom score increases by 1. Ghoulish Claws. Your hands are twisted into long sharp claws. When you make unarmed attacks against creatures with them, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier, instead of the normal bludgeoning damage for an unarmed attack. Paralyzing Strike. When you hit a humanoid or beast with your claws, you can force the target to make a DC Constitution saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier). If the creature fails its saving throw, it is paralyzed for up to 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. Elves succeed this saving throw automatically. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you complete a long rest. Ghoulish Nature. You are immune to poison damage and can’t be poisoned. Additionally, unlike other undead, you must maintain a diet of rotting flesh (at least 72 hours after death), in equal portion to the amount of food a living member of your original race would require. Your muscles require the same amount of rest that your original race would in order to stave off exhaustion. Skeleton An animated figure made of dry bones devoid of flesh and muscle, you were likely raised by a necromantic caster or dark. supernatural curse as a simple minion, completely without will and self knowledge. Something changed, however: perhaps your master was slain, the land cleansed. or you merely awoke one day to fragmented memories of your previous life. Whatever the case, possessed of a fragmented sense of self and newfound purpose, you struck out into the wider world to find a new destiny. Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and your Intelligence score increases by 1. Bloodless. You are immune to poison damage and the poisoned condition. Bone Pile. When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. If you do, you reduce yourself to a pile of bones, render yourself prone, and are considered to be under a similar effect to the feign death spell. While subject to this condition, you are unable to move or take actions other than using an action to end this effect. You can't use this feature again until you finish a long rest. Bone to Pick. Whenever both of your hands are free (not including equipped shields), you may choose to use a free hand and a bonus action to remove one of your hands or arms. If you remove an arm, it counts as a weapon with the finesse property that deals 1d6 bludgeoning damage, you have proficiency with your arm while you wield it. If you remove a hand, it counts as thieves' tools or a similar set of simple tools while you hold it. In either case, removed hands and arms may be re-attached by using another bonus action. Mummy Mummies become undead not long after their deaths, but most do not awaken until a long slumber has passed. The contingencies that animate them are not always up to them. Most mummies are protectors and guardians, meant to keep something – cursed treasure, powerful artifacts, or unspeakable evils contained. Some are meant only to watch over the remains of a royal family, ensuring their tombs stay undisturbed. Depending on the length of their slumber, an awakened mummy might find themselves in a world they scarcely recognize. However, the time that has passed has no effect on their preservation, nor their compulsion to see the will of their creators done, until what has been done has been undone, at which time the mummy will resume their slumber until they are called to reanimate again. Mummies are strong, resilient and nearly unstoppable by conventional means. They speak in a strained and gravelly tone, and those who wish to hide their true nature often take to wearing masks and covering as much of their bodies as possible to disguise themselves. Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Constitution score is increased by 1. Dreadful Glare. As an action, you can target one creature you can see within 30 feet of you. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or become frightened of you until the end of your next turn. The DC for this saving throw equals 8 + your Constitution modifier + your Proficiency bonus. After you use your glare, you can't use it again until you complete a short or long rest. Superior Preservation. Your hit point maximum increases by 1, and it increases by 1 every time you gain a level. You know the blade ward cantrip, and can cast it as a bonus action. However, your wrappings and dried flesh burn readily. You are vulnerable to fire damage. Poison Resilience. You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage. Rotting Fist. Your hands rot those they touch. When you make unarmed attacks against creatures with them, you deal necrotic damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier, instead of the normal bludgeoning damage for an unarmed attack. Revenant When a brutal murder or an atrocious crime slays an innocent soul endowed with sufficient willpower, there is rare occasion where the victim refuses to stand by and stay dead. You were created not at the whim of a mortal spellcaster, but when you were slain and either a god of death, vengeance, or justice, or you yourself, took enough umbrage at the death to raise you from the grave, typically at least a full day (though sometimes up to centuries, if the revenge is still relevant) after your death occurred. Born again out of an undying thirst for vengeance, you will not rest until the wrongs surrounding their death have been righted. Though you superficially appear similar to a zombie, complete with tattered flesh and sporadic decay, your eyes gleam with an intelligent intent, a burning passionate fury that will lay low all in your way. Ability Score Increase. Your Strength or Constitution score increases by 2, and your Charisma score increases by 1. Eternal Vengeance. You know at all times the general direction and relative distance to a creature of the DM's choosing against whom you seek revenge for your death, even if the creature and you are on different planes of existence. Should this creature die by your hand or that of another, you instantly know, and your DM chooses another creature also responsible for your death for this feature to apply to, should such a creature exist. Poison Resilience. You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage. Unnatural Vitality. When you succeed a death saving throw, you can immediately gain 1 hit point. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest. Tortured Soul Lingering souls of the dead and departed, tortured souls are raised as servants by potent necromancers or hold onto the world themselves when there is unfinished business they have yet to accomplish. Adventurous tortured souls such as yourself typically either escape the masters that raised them or have something unresolved from their days amongst the living that requires they journey far and wide. If a tortured soul is charged with unfinished business it can take many forms, from protecting a loved one to keeping a particular item safe to simple revenge. Tortured souls are spectral and luminous, but solid to the touch, and can interact with objects as mortals do. All tortured souls carry obvious and sometimes twisted marks of what caused their death, which are often quite disturbing to all but the most jaded mortals. Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2, and your Wisdom score increases by 1. Bloodless. You are immune to poison damage and the poisoned condition. Flight. You gain a fly speed equal to half your walking speed, rounded up to the nearest 5 feet. Withering Touch. Unarmed strikes deal 1d4 Necrotic damage + your Charisma modifier, instead of the normal bludgeoning damage for an unarmed attack. Incorporeal Stride. You can move through other creatures and objects other than walls (or ceilings) as if they were difficult terrain. Once per short rest, you may pass through up to 10 feet of solid walls (treating them as difficult terrain) as a part of your move action. You take 1d10 force damage if you end your turn inside an object or a wall, and are immediately ejected to the closest available space if within a wall.